From: Ross A. Finlayson (raf@tiki-lounge.com)
Date: Tue Dec 26 2000 - 14:53:51 MST
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> >"Gamma Pi" <gammapi@newsguy.com> writes:
> >
> >> > >At the same time, people's lives are not so different from hundreds of
> >> > >years ago, except many more people have automobiles, high technology
> >> > >appliances and devices, and medicine, as well as entertainment.
> >>
> >> I would agree that people's lives are not so different IN A FUNDAMENTAL
> >> SENSE from hundreds of years ago. Fundamental problems remain the same and
> > > fundamental patterns of solution also.
>
> I'm not sure this is true.
>
> 1. TV: People sit for hours watching mindless entertainment on TV.
> That is different.
Do you watch television? How much television do you watch? Do you watch it with
other people?
Compared to ten years ago, many more people use the Internet in some capacity.
>
> 2. Information-based Careers: People develop careers that are more
> information-based and less labor-based. That is a major difference.
>
That is due to some economic factors, there will always be demand to support many
labor-based or "blue collar" jobs. For example, the minimum wage is higher in
Silicon Valley than South Dakota. Besides that, whoever cares to be a tradesman
or craftsman has only less competition.
> 3. Education: Almost everybody has basic education today. That is
> different than in previous centuries.
>
Yes that's true. They have an education more based upon written learning and
abstract expression than those of previous generations, which might have been
about farming or life at that time.
> 4. Travel: Almost everybody works more than 20 miles from their
> home. This would have been impossible in the days when travel was
> not so fast. Also, most people have been outside their town, their
> county, and their state. Many have been outside their country. This
> is a major difference from previous centuries where most of the
> population was born, lived, and died in their own home town.
>
That's a major difference. Yet, there was the telegraph hundreds of years ago and
other methods of communication.
> 5. Free Time: We also work less time and have a lot of free time.
> That is a major difference.
>
That depends, some do, some don't.
> 6. Communications: Not much can happen in the world without us
> knowing about it instantly. No major wars can break out, no
> assassinations can occur, no major disasters can occur without us
> seeing it first-hand within minutes or hours of the event.
> --
> Harvey Newstrom <HarveyNewstrom.com>
Yes. Does the news matter more than it does then?
Ross
-- Ross Andrew Finlayson Finlayson Consulting Ross at Tiki-Lounge: http://www.tiki-lounge.com/~raf/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:32:33 MST